Google and Samsung continue to fight for top place as the best phone for photography, but what about telephoto zoom? Can digital technology and processing really beat actual optical hardware? We put Google’s 10x ‘optical quality’ zoom to the test, and compare it to the real 10x telephoto zoom on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Google made some bold claims with the new Pixel 9 Pro series, made up of the 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL, including the claim that the phones offer 10x optical quality zoom. Both phones feature the same camera setup, with a triple camera configuration on the rear, with an ultra-wide, wide, and 5x telephoto camera.
But how do Google offer 10x zoom, when there’s only a 5x telephoto camera on the back?
Google manage this by using “Super Resolution Zoom” technology, which uses multiple shots and combines them for improved resolution. This isn’t a new feature, as Google phones have offered this for a long time now, however, it’s the first time Google has made a big deal about offering “optical quality” from what is effectively a form of digital zoom.
Telephoto cameras compared – technical details:
| Google Pixel 9 Pro / 9 Pro XL | Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra / S23 Ultra |
|---|---|
| 48MP telephoto camera (5x actual, 110mm equiv) | 10MP telephoto camera (10x actual, 230mm equiv) |
| f/2.8 aperture | f/4.9 aperture (slower) |
| 1/2.55inch sensor | 1/3.52inch sensor (smaller) |
| Offers 10x “optical quality” zoom | Offers actual 10x telephoto zoom |
| Optical image stabilisation (OIS) | Optical image stabilisation (OIS) |
The important thing here is that by Google saying they’re offering 10x optical quality, the quality should match an actual 10x optical zoom lens.
Here we’re going to look at the 10x zoom of the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, and compare it to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (running the latest firmware / AI updates), and see if the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL can really offer 10x optical quality. Whilst we’re using the 9 Pro XL, and S22 Ultra, we should see the same results with the 9 Pro and S23 Ultra.
In this first image, there’s a mix of man-made objects, as well as natural detail in foliage etc.
At first glance – and when viewing images on the phones directly, the Pixel 9 Pro XL results would appear to be better, with images looking sharper and more detailed, with better contrast as well, whereas the Samsung’s image looks to have a general appearance of being soft, and slightly hazy.
However, this isn’t the whole story, as when viewed close-up, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra actually has more detail (in some places), with all edges and lines on the buildings looking correct, whereas the Pixel 9 Pro XL’s image has optical aberrations (artefacts, moiré, lines with jagged edges, or ‘graphical glitches’), whereas the S22 Ultra does a better job.
We also tried Google’s new “Zoom Enhance” feature that uses AI to upscale the image, it’s designed to “intelligently” fill in the gaps and “predict fine details”. Here’s the result when we zoomed into the middle of the image:
We can see that this image looks jam-packed full of detail, at first glance, however, when you start looking at the detail you realise it’s like some kind of artistic impression of the scene, as the windows on many of the buildings curve in all sorts of different directions. Generally speaking, most buildings in the UK have straight edges, and windows don’t bend in random directions. It’s also added more windows and floors in some of the buildings, making the scene look further away that it is!
But what if the Google or Samsung cameras were affected by atmospheric haze, or air quality? Let’s move onto another photo. Here, we’ve photographed a scene that is much less likely to be affected by atmosphere, as the houses and detail are much closer.
This time it’s very close-cut, we’re seeing the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL produce a result that on first glance appears clearer and more detailed than the S22 Ultra. However, when viewing the image close-up, the actual detail in the Samsung photo looks slightly more realistic, and we suspect that if the Samsung had the same sharpening applied, contrast and tone adjustments, it would produce an image with more detail.
Okay, but what about Samsung’s AI features? Well, we used the “Remaster” feature which is built-in to the Samsung, but this simply changed the colour and exposure of the clouds in the city scene, rather than adjusting the levels of detail, contrast or sharpness.
These photos were taken on sunny days, in good conditions. In low-light, the slow f/4.9 aperture and smaller sensor, of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (and S23 Ultra) is really going to hurt performance.
What does this all mean?
At the end of the day, the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL does provide some impressive results, and whilst I’m not 100% convinced it offers true optical quality 10x zoom, it’s pretty much close enough, that for 99% of people it’s going to be good enough. And with software updates, it’s possible this feature (and the Zoom Enhance feature) will get better
In addition the images have more contrast and look better, particularly when viewed on-screen or at normal sizes on-line, when compared to the results from the Samsung’s real 10x telephoto camera.
In addition, the Google Pixel 9 Pro range has an impressive set of cameras, combined with 2x and 10x zoom, that makes it feel like you’ve actually got 5 cameras on the back of the phone, rather than three.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and S23 Ultra are unique in offering a real 10x telephoto camera, but maybe these rare cameras are a dying breed. And, perhaps Samsung was right to switch to a 5x camera on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra after-all, especially as it offers a higher resolution sensor, and gives better low-light results, thanks to a brighter aperture as well.
For more options, have a look at the best phones for photography, check out the full Google Pixel 9 Pro and Google Pixel 9 Pro XL reviews, and have a look at our article on why the Google Pixel 9 Pro doesn’t record 8K video.
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